Camillus made some excellent quality knives for many, many years. I still find it hard to fathom why their knives are so low on collector's lists of desirability. Yes, like every cutlery, they did make some knives for the low price market. But even they, that I have seen, are not of poor quality. More than one series rivals anything that Case ever produced, except maybe in the glitz and marketing aspect. I suppose, like every cutlery that is relegated to history in all but their marks (Levine said that cutlerys come and go, but famous marks live forever), marketing strategy fell behind the curve of the changing marketplace. With so many lines now discontinued, the time to acquire examples of your favorite patterns like the Yello-Jakets is now.
The Sears & Roebuck Fibron handled knives are also still out there in mint condition and quite reasonably priced, though Sears has discontinued selling knives almost entirely. They were made to high standards in fit and finish, in popular patterns, and make excellent additions to collections. I don't know about them as investments, but as being among the very last knives sold by Sears & Roebuck after over a hundred years in pocket cutlery (most of which Camillus had a part in producing), they definately do deserve and get my consideration.
Michael
